Author Archives: Shasti Walsh

Anyone know where I might find a very small (like, 3′ x 3′) piece of roofing felt/tar paper? I can’t justify buying a roll, which is like 100′ long or something, when I only need 3′. I’m thinking of calling some roofing companies to see if they might have scraps that they just throw away,Continue reading “Wanted: a small piece of roofing felt”

The fireplace has been more of a project than I expected — in a good way, because I’ve enjoyed it. I originally thought I’d just sort of burn a marking on the wall where the fireplace was, but then I thought it should be recessed into the wall a bit to at least attempt aContinue reading “Creating a fireplace”

Dear Henry David Thoreau, You, sir, are a wonderful writer. At your best you are inspirational, though you tend sometimes to be a bit opinionated and in person you were probably kind of a bastard. If you were alive today, we would not be friends. But I admire you, I really do, and you haveContinue reading “Thoreau: not really into blueprints”

I’m gaining a new respect for carpenters and people who build things for a living. Do you know how difficult it is to make something square? It seems pretty easy, right? Just put two pieces of wood together at a right angle, add some screws and maybe some glue, and ta-da! You have a corner.Continue reading “It’s tough to be square”

In an earlier post, I mentioned the mysterious cedar stake things that I found at Home Depot and decided to repurpose for my chimney. Here they are in original form, though you can only see about 1/3 of the length: And here they are cut up and assembled into a chimney shape: Last weekend IContinue reading “And also a chimney!”

In ye olden days of yore, when someone (like, for example, Thoreau) wanted to make a simple wooden door out of boards, they put on a top board and a bottom board, and ran a longer board from one corner to another in a Z sort of configuration. Then they took some longer boards andContinue reading “I’m making a door!”

You know how sometimes you’re in the middle of building a house, and you have to stop and chop up some firewood? No? Well, it’s a thing that happens. Thoreau understood: “Every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection. I love to have mine before my window, and the more chips theContinue reading “Firewood”

Today I went on some errands, one of which involved a trip to the RE Store in Ballard for some reclaimed wood bits to use in making the door and fireplace frame. I found some lovely bits of lath that looked nice and aged (perfect because he used boards from the railroad worker’s shanty toContinue reading “A Quarter.”